Politics & Policy

Obama's and GE's Strategies Are in Sync

January 27, 2011

CLEAN ENERGY

Both advocate a cap-and-trade system that would make it more expensive to emit greenhouse gases, creating incentives to switch to renewable energy sources. For GE, that could boost sales of products like low-emission turbines, devices to recharge electric vehicles, solar panels, and "smart" electric meters.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Each has made infrastructure the clarion call for creating jobs. For Obama, the focus is on rebuilding roads, bridges, and mass transit, along with upgrading the power grid. That's a boon for GE, which gets more than half its total sales from infrastructure businesses (jet engines, locomotives, gas turbines, water treatment).

• Year by which Obama wants 80% of Americans to have access to high-speed rail: 2036

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Obama and Immelt have talked about the need for more and better-trained U.S. engineers and scientists. Immelt has doubled GE's research budget over two years to $6 billion, beefing up centers in New York, Shanghai, Munich, and Bangalore. Next: Brazil.

HEALTH CARE

Both have called for more affordable and efficient health care, in part through a rapid transition to electronic health records. That could be a windfall for the information technology arm of GE's $17 billion-a-year health-care business.